Day 1335

Day 1335

The illuminated apartment house in the background is Audubon Hall; the one in front is the Grinnell. Here's a circa 1910 photo of the Grinnell showing some decorative roof adornments that have since been removed.

Day 1335

Day 1335

Day 1335

These charming wooden row houses, lining both sides of narrow Sylvan Terrace, were built around 1882 on what was then a private street carved out of the estate surrounding the Morris-Jumel Mansion. Today, with its identically painted facades and Belgian block pavement, Sylvan Terrace feels like a place out of time, especially when you're looking in the other direction toward the mansion. Check it out for yourself in Street View.

UPDATE: You can see photos and floor plans of the interiors of a couple of these houses here and here.

Day 1335

Day 1335

Day 1335

The smaller, classic-looking birdhouses, to the right of each of the more elaborate houses, were not originally included when this was built in 2011 or 2012. Perhaps they were added in concession to the reality that birds don't care much for the architectural sensibilities of humans. Or perhaps the whole thing was just intended to be a work of art and the birds were merely an afterthought.

Day 1335

Built in 1765, this is Manhattan's oldest remaining house. It served as General George Washington's headquarters — as noted in the subway — for about five weeks in the fall of 1776 during the Revolutionary War, and was subsequently taken over by the British and their Hessian allies after they drove the Americans from Manhattan.

Stephen and Eliza Jumel purchased the mansion in 1810. Stephen passed away in 1832, but Eliza continued to live in the house until her own death in 1865. One notable resident during her time here was the elderly former Vice President Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton's killer, who married Eliza (Jumel, not Hamilton) in 1833.

Day 1335

After some 40 years or more, the High Bridge is finally open to the public again. Unfortunately, it's now enclosed by tall, ugly safety fencing running the entire length of the structure.

The bridge was completed in 1848, its stone arches carrying the Croton Aqueduct (located inside it), a desperately needed artery of fresh water and tremendous feat of civil engineering, across the Harlem River into Manhattan in monumental fashion. It became a popular sightseeing destination; well-dressed promenaders would come to stroll along the bridge's pedestrian walkway and take in the sweeping views of the Harlem River Valley.

Starting in the 1960s or '70s, the bridge, no longer used to carry water, was closed to the public. An oft-repeatedstory is that it was gated off because people had been throwing things from the bridge at ships passing below — and there was at least one well-documented instance of that happening with a Circle Line tour boat in 1958 — but I suspect the city just didn't want to spend the money to maintain and secure an aging, pedestrian-only structure in a poor, high-crime area.

Day 1335

I've said it before and I'll probably say it again: This may be the final one of these signs that I'll see on this walk. I've covered essentially all of the substantial territory (in the Bronx and Harlem) where the hundreds of other such signs can be found, but I'll likely end up coming back a couple of more times to walk new streets/paths or little bits I've missed.

Day 1335

Day 1335

As best I can tell, this imposing stone edifice on Summit Avenue was erected sometime between 1911 and 1921 by St. Alban's Episcopal Church, and it served as both house of worship and rectory. (The main entrance is on the other side, accessible via a staircase and walkway leading up from Ogden Avenue.)

Sacred Heart, a Roman Catholic parish, purchased the building in 1943 and renovated it, naming the refurbished chapel St. Eugene's. Records from that time indicate the building also contained classrooms.

Sacred Heart still owns the building today, although I'm not sure how or if it's currently being used. Until recently, it was home to the main office of the Highbridge Community Life Center, a community services organization founded by nuns that operated from the late1970s until 2014.

Day 1335

This is what late August* looks like on the artificial island built around the central pier of the Macombs Dam Bridge, one of the seven swing bridges over the Harlem River that can pivot open to allow large watercraft to pass by. Each of the seven bridges has a water-level structure that lines up with the movable span of the bridge when it's swung open, but this is the only one of those structures that is filled in with soil.

Day 1335

Built in 1885, the former Public School 79, "a rare example of High Victorian Gothic school design in Manhattan", has been converted into an apartment building. The name of the school is still faintly legible above the main entrance.

I'm walking every street in New York City.

This is the counterpoint to my walk across the US. Instead of seeing a million places for just a minute each, I'm going to spend a million minutes exploring just one place. By the time I finish walking every block of every street in all five boroughs, I'll have traveled more than 8,000 miles on foot — all within a single city. Details!

Your donations allow me to keep walking full-time. If you think what I'm doing is valuable and you'd like to offer some support, I would be very grateful. On the other hand, if you think I'm a worthless bum, feel free to email me and tell me to get a job, bozo. Both are excellent options!